


close to a promise, close to a lie

by Skullszeyes



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bargaining, Crush at First Sight, F/M, First Meetings, Flying, I Tried, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Innocence, Kidnapping, Lies, Mildly Dubious Consent, POV Female Character, POV Third Person Limited, Peter Pan | Malcolm is not Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold's Parent, Trapped, Tricksters, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-21 00:08:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20684210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skullszeyes/pseuds/Skullszeyes
Summary: Wendy is captured when she's IN Neverland, and meets Peter Pan.





	close to a promise, close to a lie

**Author's Note:**

> So, I wanted to write this several months ago, but I kept scrapping it. I couldn't think of anything, and then I decided to simply write the fic instead of holding out. LOL. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy.
> 
> Comments and/or Kudo's are appreciative.

When she first arrived on Neverland, she had been placed inside a cage. She asked the boys that were taller than her why she was meant to go inside, and they gave her blank expressions. There was nothing friendly about them, something had been taken from them, maybe their happiness or childishness. Maybe something else...but it was gone. 

They held weapons that were incredibly sharp, and she was afraid of truly provoking them in this strange world she found herself in. So she crawled inside the cage and frowned when they closed the gate then locked it. She was lifted into the air, her heart racing inside her chest while listening to their words below her, to their mocking laughter of her predicament. 

And she heard one of them talking less smugly than the rest. 

“Quit talking to her like that,” the boy said, sounding smaller than the rest. “Peter doesn’t like it…”

“He’s not here, so it doesn’t matter,” another boy said, his voice deeper and held humor on his tongue. “He hasn’t even seen her yet.”

“Neverland is his,” the youngest whimpered, “he knows everything that goes on...he knows she’s here.”

“It’s not like he cares about her, she’ll be sent home right after this,” another boy said, sounding bored of the conversation. 

“That’s right, Peter doesn’t keep girls here, that would be dumb,” the older boy said. 

“Enough.” Wendy leaned closer to the cage she was in, listening to the voices grow silent as a new person appeared, one with a more authoritative voice than the rest. “You finished your task, now return to the village.” 

The boys seemed to have left quietly, while the new person is quiet, and Wendy isn’t even sure if he’s still there. 

“What’s your name?” 

Wendy hugged her knees to her chest. “Who are you?” she asked.

He chuckled, “I asked first.”

She kept her mouth closed by biting her lower lip. She wasn’t welcomed here, it was obvious, whoever this Peter was, she was going to be sent home. It’s not like she knew where she was, she only came here because the shadow wanted her brothers. And she wasn’t about to let it take them. 

“Bird, then,” the boy said, “I’ll tell Peter your name is Bird, I’m sure he’ll find that amusing.”

Wendy closed her eyes and tucked her face against her knees. She didn’t care who Peter was, or any of them were. All she wanted to know was where she is, why they want her brothers, and if she can leave without them taking John and Michael. 

After a few hours, all she heard was crying. It's distant at first, but over time, it started to grow. She’s not really sure where it’s coming from until she she feels a shift in the wind. A second ago, it was still, and now it's like there was a soft lullaby easing the crying children. 

Wendy glanced to either side, heart racing. Someone is watching her. She feels it, a shiver along her skin, crawling like small bugs. How could someone be watching her when she was suspended high in the air? She tilted her chin and found herself staring at a boy. She sucked in a breath, her racing at his blank expression. There was no sign of a smile, not even a hint of amusement in his green eyes at her reaction. He was as blank as the boys who led her to the cafe and left her in the air.

The air...she was suspended in the air, and yet this boy with the tawny colored hair was staring at her. 

“Hello, little Bird,” the boy greets, giving her a small smile, shy in nature, yet strange because of his empty green eyes that don’t connect with his words. “Did _they_ frighten you?” he asked her, gripping the cage, and startling Wendy as she almost slid forward at the movement.

“Who are you?” she asked, and yet the name was on the tip of her tongue.

“Peter,” he introduced. “And you are?” 

Wendy stared, she wasn’t able to say her own name. The boy’s conversation flickered in her mind, and looking at Peter, knowing he was there, speaking to her while in the air, confused and scared her. She looked down at her hands, her heart racing, unable to push her own fears away from consuming her. 

Peter. This was Peter...was he their leader? They made him sound frightening and uncaring. 

“They won’t hurt you,” Peter tells her, close to a promise, close to a lie.

“Let me out of the cage.”

“Are you scared of heights?” he asked, snickering. It wasn’t hateful, but she couldn’t help feel that he was judging her like what the boy’s had been doing. “Don’t be scared, little Bird...I’ll let you out of your cage.” 

Wendy sucked in a sliver of breath when Peter seemed to have fallen, but there was no impact, and then the cage itself began to lower, rocking back and forth. Once it was on the ground, she heard the faint sounds of leaves and sticks crunching before Peter appeared again. 

He undid the rope that kept the cage locked and pulled the door open. Like the other boys, Peter was tall, maybe close to full maturity, but still held that boyish nature that reminded her of her brothers as he leaned down and grinned at her. 

“Come along, little Bird, I’m sure the cage isn’t to your liking.” He extended his hand out to her, and she was afraid of taking it, and when he noticed, he pouted. “ I won’t hurt you.”

A promise, a lie? She wasn’t sure, but she felt that there was something within his own words that weren’t exactly truthful. 

She reached out and took his hand, soft and smooth as he pulled her out of the cage. Standing in front of him, her heart raced with something more than fear, and it seemed to have changed completely at the sight of him. 

What was it exactly? 

Peter smiled at her. “What’s your name, little Bird? You’re no longer in the cage.”

“Birds fly away,” she whispered, watching Peter step away from her, and when she glanced around the area she was in, there was no one else around. Who helped him get her down? Did they leave right away before she could see? She wasn’t sure if he did it himself, but she wasn’t even sure how he made it up to the cage in the first place.

“They do, don’t they,” Peter muses dryly. “Depends on if you want to clip those wings.”

She shivered, “Are there only boys here?” she asked him. 

Peter smiled, walking toward the rope where it was hanging from the tree that kept her suspended. “I think I’d like my own question answered, I mean, if this is a game of some kind, then I think it’s my turn.” 

Wendy clenched her teeth. He wanted her brothers. Why? She wasn’t sure exactly, but she figured there were only boys on the island. It’s not like she could look around. 

Peter sighed, “Fine. If you really want to know, Tinker Bell is here.” 

Wendy blinked, “Tinker Bell?”

Peter waved toward a group of trees. “She lives in that direction. Keeps to herself unless I need something. I consider her an adult, so she’s not exactly allowed in the village.” He walks towards her, his smile sheepish. “The rest are boys. Now your turn, what’s your name?”

“Wendy,” she told him, “my name is Wendy Darling.”

Peter grinned, “Wendy bird, what a lovely name you have. And don’t worry, you’ll be sent home tomorrow, when the sun rises. Until then, you can sleep in a tree house close by to the village.” He leads her toward the trees, and she reluctantly follows. 

“I won’t let you take my brothers,” she whispered, hoping he won’t hear her, but he does slow his pace.

“What makes you think I want your brothers?” he asked her, and she noticed the change in his voice, it went blank, devoid of his humor and interest. 

“It’s the only reason why you were in our room in the first place,” she told him. “You wanted one of my brothers, maybe both of them, and since your...friends weren’t so keen on talking about my presence on the island, it only makes sense you want them .”

Peter had stopped on the path, and he turned around. His eyes looked darker, and there was something more devious about the way he stood taller than her, it crawled along her skin, making her shudder. 

“Maybe,” he stepped closer to her, “I want you, not your brothers.”

“You don’t know me.”

“I’ll get to know you,” he said, giving her a smile, “maybe I’ll keep you forever, you won’t need to grow old, Wendy bird, you can stay here, and to make sure you do, I’ll clip your wings before you learn how to fly.”

Wendy swallowed thickly. 

Now that sounded like a promise, a threat.

“Don’t take my brothers…” she said.

“If I can keep you, I won’t.” 

He was...going to take them.

He’s a liar. A liar that wanted a bargain.

“Then I’ll stay,” she said, softly, “just don’t take them.”

Peter smirked, one that was unkind and filled with cruel expectation as he said, “Come along, Wendy bird, I’m sure you’ll enjoy your new home soon enough.”

Wendy took a breath, and reluctantly followed Peter to her new home.

**Author's Note:**

> It was difficult to kind of write this because I wasn't sure if I wanted to add more than I should, or if I was making it too weird. I kind of wanted something to happen to these two, but after Malcolm was revealed as a thing, I disliked it so much! FFS. Dude, I love this fairy tale thing growing up as a kid, and ouat just ruined it. I like the...evil Peter Pan!
> 
> (I also didn't know how to end this...so...don't mind that.)
> 
> I hope you enjoyed.
> 
> Comments and/or Kudo's are appreciative.


End file.
